


Man's best friend

by orphan_account



Series: Stucky AUs [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Drunk!Bucky, Fluff, It's all fluff, M/M, Meet-Cute, amputee!Bucky, but angst-free, steve has a dog and it's called cap wow good one lizzie how creative
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-07
Updated: 2015-12-07
Packaged: 2018-05-05 11:34:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5373824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's 3am on a Wednesday when Steve realises that maybe he's too nice for his own good.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Man's best friend

There's someone outside in Steve's backyard. He knows because they are certainly not quiet. At first he thought it might just be Cap running around, but Cap's never woken him up at 3am in the four years Steve's had him. Also, Steve can see the guy's silhouette.

He's not being creepy, Steve tells himself as he watches the guy in his garden from his bedroom window. He's not being creepy because the guy is trespassing so Steve can watch him from the goddamn window if he feels the need. The guy's playing with Cap, which made Steve uncomfortable until he realised Cap was having a great time. Still. It's 3am on a Tuesday night- no, Wednesday morning- and there's a stranger in Steve's backyard playing with his dog. That's a bit weird.

The guy doesn't notice when Steve opens the back door and steps out onto the grass, but Cap does. He stands up from where he was getting his belly rubbed and happily barks at Steve. The guy notices _that_.

"Heeeeeey!" He grins, wobbling to his feet only to fall back down again. Oh. He's drunk. That actually explains it a little but, except it's Tuesday and no one respectable gets drunk on a Tuesday.

"Need a hand?" Steve asks, frowning at the man flopped over on the grass. He doesn't know this guy, and has no reason to help him when he woke Steve up in his own goddamn house, but. Steve's mother raised him better than that.

The guy's head snaps up and he grins wickedly at Steve. "Yeah. A _left_ one!" He laughs, waving something at Steve, and oh God, Steve made an arm joke at an amputee. But before Steve has the chance to apologise, they guy is talking again.

"Oh, man, I like you. Lotsa' people are weird about the arm. Only Nat 'n Clint are cool but they were aroun' before it went missing." The guy's managed to get to his feet and is making his way to where Cap is sitting next to Steve.

"I love you so much, y'know? So much." He tells the dog, scratching behind his ears. Cap grins at him, his pink tongue lolling out the side of his mouth. The man looks back up at Steve, his eyes wide with awe. "Did you know-" He pauses to steady himself against the side of the house and runs his hand through his hair, pushing it out of his eyes. "Did you know that golden retrievers are the fastest dogs."

"The fastest dogs." Steve repeats slowly, fairly certain Greyhounds are the fastest dogs. His drunk friend nods enthusiastically.

"Yeah, they're so fast. Look how happy he is." The guy nods his head to where Cap's retreated back into the warmth of the house. "No wait, Lucky! Come back!"

And that's how Steve gets a drunk stranger in his house at 3:26am on a Wednesday morning.

-

The guy's sitting on Steve's couch, clutching a glass of water in his hand and staring at Cap. 

"My name's Steve," Steve says. "Is there anyone I can call to get you? Or a taxi?" 

"'M Bucky." The guy mumbles, his eyelids starting to droop. "Heh, Bucky an' Lucky. D'you like that, Lucky?" Bucky turns to Cap, who's blinking up at him from the floor. 

"Whoa, what the hell! He has two eyes! Steve, he has two eyes! How did that happen?" Bucky's moving his arm around in confusion so Steve leans over to take the glass before he gets water everywhere. 

"Funny thing about dogs, Buck." Steve says, placing the glass on the coffee table. "More often than not, they have two eyes. Cap was born with two." 

"But Lucky only has one eye!" Bucky protests, looking at Cap as if the dog's personally offended him. 

"Okay. Well, Bucky, this isn't Lucky. This is Cap.  Do you want me to call you a cab now?" Steve stands up to get his phone but is stopped by a hand on his arm and sadly desperate eyes. 

"No! Um, no. I think I will just stay here. Thank you." Bucky curls into himself and drags his hood down over his face. Steve frowns at the sight, it's just downright sad. 

"Buck? What's wrong?" And Goddamn Steve Rogers and his giant size heart because it's almost 4am and his alarm will go off in just over three hours because he has a class to teach at 9 and there's a drunk stranger in his house who looks like he's about to cry and Steve has way too much trouble backing down from a fight but even more backing down from someone on the verge of tears. He sits back down on the couch and carefully reaches over to push Bucky's hood off. Bucky looks up at him, his big blue eyes shining with unshed tears and Steve knows he's not going to bed any time soon. 

"It's empty." Bucky's voice is quiet but steady. "Nat's at Clint's and I don't want to be alone. The house is too empty. I was meant to walk to Clint's but your dog looks like Lucky and I forgot why I was even there because Lucky is even better than Nat and then you came out and you're even hotter than Clint which is good because Clint is hot but he's gross and I wouldn't want to date that, you know? Plus he's with Nat and man, I do not want to get involved with anything she's involved with." 

When Bucky stops to breathe he no longer looks like he's going to cry. 

"You can stay here, Bucky. It's fine."

-

4:47am. He'd hardly even gotten back to sleep before a loud crash and muffled swearing wakes Steve back up. He reluctantly climbs out of bed because it's probably Bucky, and he's probably still drunk, and Steve's too Goddamn responsible. 

"Bucky? What's going on?" Steve asks drowsily, flicking on the kitchen light. Bucky's standing there, his eyes blown wide open and a half-eaten carrot in his hand. 

"Shhh! Turn off the lights! It's okay!" He hisses, waving his carrot at Steve. "The lights will disturb you, I don't want to disturb you after you've been so nice to me." 

"It's okay, Buck, 'm awake now. You okay?" Steve sighs, rubbing a hand over his face. 

"Yeah. It was dark so I got a carrot so I could see. I don't really like the dark, Stevie. Not anymore." Bucky whispers, taking another bite from his carrot. 

"There's this great thing called electricity. It means it can be light at nighttime, if you flick this switch. Isn't that amazing?" Steve mutters. It's too early for this. Steve's a good person, he doesn't deserve this. 

Bucky nods. "Yeah, but, if I turn on the light, it might wake you up." 

"It's okay, Bucky. Leave the lights on, and try to get some sleep."

-

Steve manages to sleep through to his alarm this time. It doesn't mean he's any less tired when he gets out of bed for the third time that morning, though. The lights are on in the hallway, a glaring reminder of his uninvited guest. Steve goes through his morning routine of putting on coffee, showering, drinking coffee, then preparing his cereal. He's pouring milk into his bowl when he hears a groan from the other room. Steve pokes his head through the doorway to find Bucky sprawled out in Cap's bed, with the dog curled up half beside, half on him. It's... adorable, actually. Bucky pops an eye open and groans again, this time louder. "I'm so sorry."

Steve grins at him and nods towards the kitchen. "There's coffee." 

Bucky hauls himself to his feet and makes his way past Steve. 

"You're a literal saint, you know that? You're made of sugar and spice and everything nice." 

Steve scoffs and eats his cereal. "Okay. Well, Saint Steve here has to leave in five minutes. Can I trust you to leave in your own time and not steal anything? Go back to sleep, take a shower, watch tv, whatever. Just don't trash the place and please don't take anything. Except carrots, you can have the carrots." Steve knows he's being naive and stupid, Bucky is a stranger. He shouldn't let him wander around his house while Steve's at work. But Bucky still looks a little bit drunk, and seems harmless enough. Plus, it'd be good for Cap to have some company. 

"Oh, no. I'd forgotten about the carrots." Bucky moans. "And yeah, I promise to not destroy your house. I feel bad enough about everything as it is."

-

 

Steve gets home earlier than he expected, having finished his marking quickly. He knows he's got to walk Cap but he's so exhausted. It's only a bit after four, he could probably have a quick nap before- except no, because then he'd never get to sleep later. He pushes open the front door to an unusually quiet house. His first thought is that Bucky is an asshole and has stolen Cap, but then he spots the dog sleeping on the couch and sighs in relief. Cap looks up at his as he enters the room, his tail thumping against the cushion, but makes no attempt at moving to greet Steve. 

Then Steve spots the note on the coffee table. 

_Steve,_

_I would like to apologise for everything that happened. I'm usually not that annoying. Or drunk. You have a beautiful dog. I'm sorry for last night but can't really do anything about that, so instead, to thank you, I took Cap for a walk. He's great._

_If you would like me to make it up to you over drinks, I have more than happily left my number at the bottom of the page. (If you would like me to make it up to you over something **not** involving alcohol, I am more than happy to buy you dinner.)_

_If you would like to never see me again then you're a wise guy and with any luck I won't drunkenly make my way to your house ever again!_

_Thanks again, Bucky._

Grinning like the idiot he is, Steve picks up his phone. 


End file.
